Ex-Painkiller Addict: Fox a Faker

When I first saw Michael J. Fox's disturbing new campaign commercial, I wondered if he was faking it.

In the ad, the former Alex P. Keaton twitches violently back and forth -- or "gyrates," as one right-wing blog puts it -- as he promotes stem cell research and the Democratic senatorial candidate in Missouri. (He's also now in an ad for a Maryland senatorial candidate.)

I knew Fox had Parkinson's disease, but I'd successfully avoided ever watching "Spin City" and had never seen him like this. But it took about two seconds on YouTube to find recent videos showing him suffering from the same symptoms, if less severe.

Research isn't Rush Limbaugh's strong point. On his show yesterday -- audio clip here -- he proclaimed:

"This is the only time I have ever seen Michael J. Fox portray any of the symptoms of the disease he has… this is really shameless of Michael J. Fox. Either he didn't take his medication or he's acting, one of the two."

But then he backtracks, after the jump.

Later, Limbaugh backtracked a bit, but still said this:

"MichaelJ. Fox is using his illness as a way to mislead voters into thinkingthat their vote for a single United States senator has a direct impacton stem cell research in Missouri. It doesn't, and it won't."

Meanwhile, a parody of the ad appeared on YouTube -- Wonkette called it hilarious -- and promptly disappeared. And Gawker had this commentary in a headline: "Rush Has Not Seen 'Boston Legal', or 'Teen Wolf' for That Matter."